Need Inexpensive Way to Protect Carpet

I bought a vinyl shower curtain liner at the dollar store. Keeps paint, etc. in one place, and its easy to wipe up. Happy crafting!
E.

On hgtv, they are always making "rugs" with primed pieces of canvas cloth. Michael's has a product or two, one is Fredrix floorcloth. Not sure on the price, but they may have their own generic.
If you search hgtv, you might see what kind of paint they use. I'm thinking it was just interior house paint, or simple craft paint. I'm sure you could even leave it plain.

Another thing, might be a painter's tarp, the white canvas cloth. You could get at menards, hd, or even a piece of canvas from the fabric store. I would think it would be thick enough not to let paint through.

If he makes a mess, it's his own decoration. You can shake off the dirt when you need too, or vacuum.

M.

Hi K.,

I put a rubber alphabet mat under my son's art table. You can buy them at toys r us or the right start. It wipes off easily, and the kids love it.

Good luck. JD

vinyl shower curtain

I second the adhesive plastic. We used it to protect our carpet when we were painting. It is durable, protects the carpet and messes wipe up pretty easily.

What about getting a remnant of linoleum(sp)? That might work and should be affordable.

I have 2 suggestions -
First, to protect my carpet from where my dog enters from the backyard, I went to Lowes and purchses a plastic runner. They aer great and cheap. On the back of the plastic it had little spikes (plastic - does not damage carpet) that grip the carpet to keep it in place. You could get two and lay them side by side. They have it withthe runners on a roll so you can pick out how long you want it. It's a inexpensive thing.
The second is to buy - also from Lowes - a pad that you can use with the tabel cloths. It's made for area rugs - there are 2 kinds- one to use for rug on carpet and one for rud on hardwood floor. We have a area rug on top of carpet and it keeps the rug from sliding.
Hope it help.

Sometimes you can find vinyl flooring remnants at carpet stores. They usually sell them super cheap or just give them away. I've gotten 5x8 pieces for $15 before. I like that they're sturdy and cheap! Good luck!

We have used the plastic runners that go up stairs (they have the little spikes in them so they grip the carpet very well - you generally can go to Home Depot or Lowe's - and it's pretty cheap. Another idea is to get the large floor pads that snap together (kind of like a big 4-piece puzzle) - they have them at Lowes in primary colors or in gray for about $16 for a 4 pack - I use them in my sons room for a soft area to play - but I would bet they would work just fine for a craft area and protecting the carpeting.

We recently ordered a few modular carpet squares from a company called FLOR. (http://www.flor.com/) They have carpet squares that can go over carpet or over tile. Plus, they have lots of cool colors and patterns. We just got ours so I don't want to be a zealous advocate for them, but so far so good.

We have the same type of set up at our house. I went to Wal-mart and bought a really cheap 8x10 rug that was about $10 to put under that area. That rug looks really bad after this past year, but it has saved my wall to wall carpet and that was it's purpose. Have fun!
E.

How about the plastic floor covering that movers use - that sticks to carpet? It's pretty cheap, you can get a roll at Home Depot and you could either clean it or put a new piece down when it gets dirty

I am not sure if this is what you would be looking for, but we get a roll of that stuff realtors put over carpets when showing houses - it sticks to the carpet like tape and comes of easily. We use it to line the hallway where the bathroom is when we have parties at our house to protect the carpet from shoes. It should work for you, just lay it down wherever a mess might occur. Then you can just pull it up and replace it when it gets messy. We get it at Home Depot or Menards. Or if you do use a big plastic tablecloth, can you just place the craft table on top of the cloth to kind of hold it down...?